Srianthi Perera

If you need a light in the dark to become a published author, this indispensable book, Journeys to Authorship serves as your directional beacon in the fog of the publishing world. Fourteen established authors will take you on an enlightening expedition as they reveal personal odysseys to attain their individual wordsmithing dreams. Via their collective experiences, you’ll learn what the authoring process involves and gather ideas to overcome the obstacles of time, inertia, and resources.

You’ll also gain concrete advice on navigating the complex publishing world as you connect with successful fiction and nonfiction authors across a variety of genres. The authors’ journeys will make you laugh, wonder, and even cry at their creativity and perseverance, and the sheer gumption required to pursue their quests. All of the authors who share their origin stories in this book are members of the Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors, & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS), a Phoenix-based group founded in 2006. Read their stories, benefit from real-life experiences, and ignite your aspirations to actually reach your own publishing goals. ........... Origin stories, alphabetically by author:. "From Zip to Zest: How My Ancestors’ Journeys Created an Author," Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski. "Writer by Habit," Laurie Fagen. "My Journey to Becoming an Author," Howard Gershkowitz. "Flirting with the Flames of Fame," Susan McNabb. "My Imaginary Friends and Me," Margaret C. Morse. "When You’re Ready to Sing Your Song," Pamela Pech. "How to Meet an Author," Srianthi Perera. "Realizing My Passion," Albert Monreal Quihuis. "The Accidental Author," Hayley Rose. "You Are Invited, the Mad Hatter Says So," Marie Shadden. "Time, Patience, and Too Many Oxford Commas," Jenn Shon. "Three’s a Pattern," Mallary Tytel. "Back to the Future and Other Moments of Serendipity," Ann Narcisian Videan. "An Unlikely Path from Farm Girl to Author," Charlotte Whitney.

Calling all armchair (or, would-be) travelers who love to dip into world cultures: Authors Srianthi Perera and Romany Kadurugamuwa hope the recounts of their often-witty travel experiences around the globe will whet your appetite to try the same. The writing evokes rich, sensory details of the places they explored and outlines dialogue with the quirky people they met. Cultural insight, political background, historical context, and other pertinent information are thrown in to help glean knowledge from the reading journey.

The two longtime friends have led almost parallel lives: they grew up in Sri Lanka and left their motherland soon after marriage. Srianthi lived in the Sultanate of Oman, Canada and the United States, while Romany lived in Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the United States. Between trips back to Sri Lanka, they traveled to other lands. Each of the 30 chapters in this creative nonfiction publication contains an experience or travelogue in a different destination, among them Sri Lanka, Japan, India, Turkey, Vietnam, Austria, Greece, Oman, the USA, and Canada. Rather than being updated to the current situation, the stories are time capsules.